It has been awhile since I visited Olive Tree Genealogy Blog, but today I stopped in for a visit. Her prompt is "Welcome to Week 11 of our 52 weeks of Sharing Memories - A Genealogy Journey for 2012. This is our third year writing our memoirs and childhood memories for our descendants." She wrote about "Indian Leg Wrestling" and how her husband had no idea of what she spoke.
Sharing Memories - Games We Played
I have to laugh. My siblings and I also grew up "Indian Leg Wrestling". It was one of my favorite ways to pass the day as I had strong legs and would usually win. Being a girl and strong, I also wrestled with all of the boys in the neighborhood, especially the Jerikovsky boys. Think we stopped when I was around thirteen and the wrestling got too "close."
Other games to pass the day/evening was to gather up the kids in the neighborhood after supper and play "Kick the Can." There were 15-20 of us around the same age so there was always a game going. Our family was always the last ones to eat supper, as our Dad came home after the other dads in the neighborhood, so our friends would gather around our front yard and make lots of noise until we came out to play. Sometimes they would even help us do dishes so we could get outside sooner. Our neighborhood homes were all ramblers built in the early '50's with square yards and small trees and no fences in the back yards. It made it easy for us kids to run and hide as the area was 5-6 back and front yards to run in. Very few homes had a window air condidtioner and even TV was not that big of a deal so we all would gather outside at night. Some parents would gather at the neighbor's house and play cards, or sit in the kitchen and visit while we ran. Kick the Can is not so much fun now, with plastic coffee cans or bags. You don't get that metallic clang as the can tumbled along the driveways, alerting everyone that someone had made it back and got all of those who in "jail" free.
Another game we played was "Captain May-I?" I think it was because we all had front steps to sit on and sidewalks to advance on. The premise was that one person was the "Captain" and all the other players would line up and wait for direction to approach the Captain's spot. The Captain would tell you to move forward or jump or do some other silly movement. It was the player's job to ask permission to do so, or "Captain, May I?" If you moved and forgot to ask you had to go back to the beginning. (It sounds like this game was made up to teach manners!)
I also remember putting on plays for the neighborhood. Not a written, you know the name of kind of play, but the "here's some cast off clothing you can play with - go make up a play" kind of show. Or we would take bed sheets and pin them to the clothesline and make tents. Now most people don't even have a clothesline.
What was your favorite game to play in the neighborhood?
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